Buzz Out Loud Podcast

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August 13, 2009 12:05 PM PDT

BOL 1041: What does the brown Zune do for you?

by Tom Merritt
  • 5 comments

The Zune HD is coming in colors. But none of them are brown. And do you really care? We also talk about the ePub format. Will it change the landscape of eBook publications? And also, while we're at it, how the heck should we express fuel efficiency in electric cars? So many questions. At least Kernels are now bug-proof.

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Episode 1041

China backs off Green Dam
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125013563611828325.html

Now we know what colors the Zune HD will be available in
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/13/zune-hd-color-options-revealed-in-pre-order-email/

Sony adopts common ePub format
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/technology/internet/13reader.html?_r=1

The Chevy Volt mpg claim was nutty, but Nissan can top that
http://blog.caranddriver.com/nissan-leaf-bests-the-volt-with-367-mpg-fuel-economy-estimate-or-does-it/

DoE will have 100 Gbps Ethernet
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39712622,00.htm

NICTA kernel-proof can make software safer and more reliable
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/312631/Safer+software.htm

Dell: Linux versus Windows Netbook returns a ‘non-issue’
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/12/dell_reality_linux_windows_netbooks/

NASA asteroid-tracking program stalled due to lack of funds
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/08/nasa-asteroid-tracking-program-stalled-due-to-lack-of-funds.ars

Les Paul, inventor of modern electric guitar, dead at 94
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/08/13/les-paul-guitar-legend-dead-at-94/

Voice mail
Kevin calls back about his check-writing

Tommy in Kingston

Dan has good idea for robot development

E-mail
I ran across this site http://www.listenerdrivenradio.com/ and
thought I'd pass it on to you guys. The concept is that listeners
interact directly with the radio stations automation system to play
the songs people want to hear. It brings crowdsourcing to radio. Being
a radio engineer this was of interest to me. The system covers the big
name social media outlets and adds a website widget that can be posted
on any website, even text messaging when your favorite songs come on
the air. They even boast an iphone app that lets people vote on the
next song to be played and listen to an audio stream on the iphone.
Anyway keep up the good work.

Jonathan Bowen

**********

Hey buzz crew,

I have an opinion on why some companies might not want to show off their prototypes and early demo models. In projects that I have worked on in the past we have used additional debug tools and command line execution in test releases. It seems possible that marketing would get a hold of a product with similar implementations.

If this is the case they wouldn’t want the slower response time to be documented. It is also possible they wouldn’t want reviewers to accidentally tap a debug button, or a button they know darn well that either doesn’t work or will crash the device.

Keep up the great work,

Brad the Minneapolis programmer

**********

Hey buzz crew, now this may not seem relevant to the podcast but I’ve been noticing recently since I’ve started experimenting with garage band how common it is for podcasts to use garage band song samples (if that’s even what you call them). I started listening to a few of them and was like “oh that’s the buzz out loud theme” and then “oh that’s the hotspot theme”. So why is this; is it because these samples are cheaper or better?

Thanks for presumably answering my stupid question
Ben Parker
Alameda

June 30, 2009 12:05 PM PDT

Buzz Out Loud 1008: China delays pr0k-blocker

by Tom Merritt
  • 7 comments

China has delayed required installation of Green Dam Youth Escort, but we find out it does a better job blocking pork than porn. Whew. Protect those kids from the piggies! Also a big win for remote cable DVRs! And the Pirate Bay got sold. You can sell it?


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EPISODE 1008

Swedish company to buy Pirate Bay
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10275759-83.html
http://thepiratebay.org/blog/164

China Delays Mandating Filtering Software
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124636491863372821.html

China also filters Jonny Depp, Garflield, and Paris Hilton
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE55T26Y20090630

Remote Cable DVRs are legal: Supreme Court denies appeal of Cablevision decision
http://www.betanews.com/article/Cable-DVRs-are-legal-Supreme-Court-denies-appeal-of-Cablevision-decision/1246290931
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/cablevision-remote-dvr-stays-legal-supremes-wont-hear-case.ars

Senators want to bar contracts to foreign companies selling IT to Iran
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090629_3881.php

With 3.5 launch, Firefox faces new challengers
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10275396-2.html

Amazon drops Rhode Island just like they dropped North Carolina
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124630810805070105.html

Toyota thinks up mind-reading wheelchair
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10275267-1.html

New HTC Hero ROM leaked, Flash 10 already chugging along on a few lucky G1s
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/30/new-htc-hero-rom-leaked-flash-10-already-chugging-along-on-a-fe/

First manned solar plane unveiled in Switzerland
http://green.venturebeat.com/2009/06/30/first-manned-solar-plane-unveiled-in-switzerland/

VOICEMAIL
Dan likes the new lineup

Bruce about CapsLock

EMAIL
Just passing along this story where they said apple’s solution to the universal charger is to include an adapter from dock conector to micro usb, so no new hardware on the horizon…

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/25149/next-iphone-charges-via-micro-usb.phtml

Love the show!
Javier Ardila

**********

The discussion of metric is interesting to me as we changed over here in Canada when I was in grade 4 or so. Now, what happened to those of us in this generation is that we know an odd mish mash of units. Temperatures outside, well that is in Celsius, but when I cook I use Imperial measures, including temperature. The temperature of my parents' pool, I still do that in F. Distances and speeds while driving, km and km/h are fine, distances to object, metres are great, but when I measure to say repair something in the house, I use inches. Oh and I am 6 foot 1 inch tall, and weigh about 175 lb, I have no idea what my height or weight is in metric. (I could convert of course, but I don't).

I am just confused.... My 15 year old daughter on the other hand, does everything in metric, no problem.

Dave (the psychologist)

June 29, 2009 11:59 AM PDT

Buzz Out Loud 1007: Crank up the beats on space

by Tom Merritt
  • 3 comments

NASA may have found the lost moon tapes and our best hope is for some kind of remix. Also, Molly tells us all to beware the sticky death roller if we use the dead-fly-powered alarm clock. We also still don't have a sponsor. In case you were curious.


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EPISODE 1007

Steve Jobs returns to work as Apple CEO after medical leave (thanks, Nate Lanxon on Twitter!)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSy0WezEGvvY

Sony considers adding phone to PSP
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10274415-1.html?

Sony begins shipping PCs with Green Dam software installed
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218101773

Google mistook Jackson searches for Net attack
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/29/003214/Google-Mistook-Jackson-Searches-For-Net-Attack

Amazon cuts off North Carolina affiliates
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/26/172248/Amazon-Cuts-Off-North-Carolina-Affiliates

Keeping news of kidnapping off Wikipedia
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/technology/internet/29wiki.html

Reading machine to snoop on Web
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10274435-42.html

Universal phone charger deal done in Europe
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_8124000/8124293.stm

Lenovo expanding Del and Esc keys, nuking Caps Lock
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/28/lenovo-expanding-del.html

Has NASA Found the Lost Moon Tapes?
http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/06/28/186245/Has-NASA-Found-the-Lost-Moon-Tapes

VOICEMAIL
Dance in Boulder on Windows 7

E-MAIL
Dear Buzz Crew:

This is Siavash, alive and yet fighting.
You think airing trilogy of Lord of the Rings is a big thing? The channel 3 is going to AIR the whole Prison Break series, ha? What you have to say about that? I've heard it is 3 episode a day.
This is really stupid, let me tell you something, in Iran we have 7 channels over the air, analog and digital with standard definition, in Tehran less that 50% of people watch the Iranian TV and they mostly watch satellite TV. And most of the people have watched these movies and series on DVD, so who cares that they are aired on TV?
And there are some people like me that never watch Iranian TV. I don't have a antenna for Iran's TV , and I only watch satellite TV.( who chooses watching Mullahs instead of watching MTV?)
My source of movies and series are satellite TV and torrent download (sorry, but no copyright law here and I really love to watch the latest series and movies).
Series like Prison break, Lost, Heroes, Office, Friends, CSI , 90210 , 24 and etc are big hits and everyone watches them in DVD or downloaded Divx.

So, all I'm trying to say is that it does not matter if they air Lord of the Rings or Prison Break, because at least in Tehran no one cares and more than 60% percent or more don't watch any Iranian TV. We can buy a copied DVD for 2$ or an original one for 15$, now I buy BlueRay disks for 30$, why should we care what is one the TV when we can watch it with better quality and no censor?
They are doing anything they can to keep people off the streets but they can't, even one day marathon of Angelina Jolie movies can't do it.

Best Regards

Siavash

**********

It’s not enough that humans gave robots a place to congregate to plan our demise, now we’ve adapted them with the ability to extract fuel from the very nectar of life. All that innocent experimentation with fuel cells that run on blood has led to this, a flesh-eating clock. This prototype time-piece from UK-based designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau traps insects on flypaper stretched across its roller system before depositing them into a vat of bacteria. The ensuing chemical reaction, or “digestion,” is transformed into power that keeps the rollers rollin’ and the LCD clock ablaze. The pair offers an alternative design fueled by mice, another contraption whose robotic arm plucks insect-fuel from spider webs with the help of a video camera, and a lamp powered by insects lured to their deaths with ultraviolet LEDs. Man, this is so wrong it has to be right.

Michael

**********

The crew at BOL:

You had a round of derision for english units on the replacement for the
space shuttle. I’m glad to hear that you will be reporting the weight
of netbooks in grams, not pounds. The screen sizes will no longer be in
inches. Your CD’s and DVD’s will no longer be 5 1/2 inches. You won’t
be reporting how many pounds you lost on your last diet, and you will
report that the iPhone masses 0.135 kg instead of weighing 4.8 ounces.

As a practicing engineer (29 years), I have an intuitive understanding
of my designs in inches. I can convert to metric easily when needed,
but I have a storehouse of experience in English units. Unfortunately,
I’m passing that on to newly minted engineers, as well.

Charlie

Yes, as a matter of fact, it IS rocket science.

**********

I know one can’t predict the exact date of any given episode due to holidays, special episodes and what have you, but based on the average number of podcasts per month over year in the 2006 – 2008 period, I believe I can make at least a rough projection. I am greatly anticipating Buzz Out Loud’s Millionth Episode in October of 6120, give or take a decade.

Love the show.
-Mark, the person.

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About Buzz Out Loud Podcast

Buzz Out Loud features Tom Merritt, producer Jason Howell, and a rotating roundtable of CNET's top tech experts reviewing the day's tech news. Each episode, five times a week, the crew analyzes, interprets, and argues about what all this technology means and what it's doing to us. Fans can join in the show by calling 1-800-616-2638, e-mailing at buzz@cnet.com, or commenting on the blog.


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Tom Merritt Tom Merritt appears on CNET TV, specializing in help and how-to and the ever popular Top 5 lists. He also co-hosts CNET's The Real Deal podcast. See profile
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